LOL, that was choice, I laughed 'till I cried .. no, wait, I'm watching a news report and there are shore birds suffocating in the oil spill on the TV screen, I might have been weeping already :-\

Hey, you may scoff at BP, and second guess them, but they have been studying problem solving since forever. For example, BP Tony Hayward was already learning strategies to solving complex problems early in his education:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=altckbVlceM

BP thought the longer they could go without capturing the oil, choosing to disperse instead would limit their liability.
If you can't measure the quantity, the quantity always remains in question because there is no concrete evidence of the amount.
We know roughly what the amount is now, but they'll be in court crying there wasn't any proof, only estimates.
BP's only option now is to buy the fall election.
They're working on that as I type.

...This will tide them over until then:

[...]But to handle claims from the spill, BP has hired a risk-management company who advertises that a main benefit of its services is "reducing our clients' loss dollar pay-outs" --- a goal Gulf advocates say is in direct contradiction to Washington and BP's promises to fully compensate coastal residents.

Nice huh.

http://www.southernstudi...of-reducing-payouts.html